Chicago kid Mick O’Brien (Sean Penn) is sent to Rainford Juvenile Correctional Facility in Illinois for vehicular manslaughter. Unfortunately, the person he killed is the kid brother of his nemesis Paco Moreno (Esai Morales), who exacts his revenge by viciously raping and beating Mick’s girlfriend, JC (Ally Sheedy).
Paco is caught and sent to the same prison where he reworks his revenge plan, and Mick has no choice but to defend himself and fight for survival.
The prison guards preside sincerely but ineffectually over a reign of terror enforced by the toughest kids in the prison. Violence and sexual crimes are commonplace. The strongest survive.
This situation is complicated, of course, by the fact that everyone in the prison immediately knows that Mick and Paco will have to fight to the death over their feud of honour.
Littered with violence and flashy direction from Rick Rosenthal (Halloween II), this can be hard to stomach but does boast an early strong, neurotic performance from Penn, who has since gone on to impress both in front of and behind the camera.
Eric Gurry steals scenes as Penn’s bunkmate, a 15-year-old psychopath named Horowitz who is serving time for fire-bombing a bowling alley and causing the death of three innocent onlookers.
Mick O’Brien
Sean Penn Ramon Herrera
Reni Santoni Gene Daniels
Jim Moody Horowitz
Eric Gurry Paco Moreno
Esai Morales JC Walenski
Ally Sheedy “Viking” Lofgren
Clancy Brown Tweety
Robert Lee Rush Wagner
John Zenda Carl Brennan
Alan Ruck
